CPM backs govt stance on regulatory body for education

The CPI(M) on Tuesday backed the government's stance for formation of a regulatory framework for education in the country...

The CPI(M) on Tuesday backed the government’s stance for formation of a regulatory framework for education in the country, even as it called for inclusive growth seeking more purchasing power in the hands of the economically backward communities.

At the FICCI AGM on Tuesday, CPI(M) Politburo member Sitaram Yechury said that private universities are part of the realty in India. They need to work under a proper framework so that the fees they charge and the salaries they pay to professors can be regulated, he said.” This regulatory framework would also be in the interest of the education providers, he said.

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Though the present education system had served India well, private players could participate in augmenting the capacity, he added. “It is the present eduction system that has given us men like Abdul Kalam, and it would not be right to debunk the education system completely,” he said stressing on the need for reforms to transform the country’s workforce into an asset.

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Calling for inclusive growth within the country, Yechury said that growth would not be possible without equity. “There is a need to increase purchasing power of the people and they should be able to purchase what is being produced. Equity and growth are compatible with each other and not antagonistic to each other,” he added.

More spending power has to be put in the hands of the poor to help them become part of the economic system, and to make the current level of growth sustainable,” he said.

Yechury said the tax net also needed to be enlarged for the country to generate more resources. “There was a need to widen the tax base since only five million tax payers in a country of one billion would not generate resources,” he added.

Regarding infrastructure development in the country, he said funds for infrastructure and social sector should come primarily from the government as is the case in China and the US.